respecting outcome of Sunday elections
29 October 2006
Kinshasa - The leader of the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) to
elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Deputy Defence
Minister Mluleki George has welcomed the signing today, 28 October 2006 of a
Joint Communiqu� towards respecting the outcome of the DRC poll, by
representatives of President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean Pierre
Bemba.
Deputy Minister Mluleki George, described the signing on the eve of the
historic second round of elections in the DRC as an "encouraging development
and a clear demonstration by the Congolese leadership of their desire to
embrace democracy and navigate their country towards a peaceful future."
The Joint Communiqu�, whose signing was witnessed by the chairperson of the
DRC Independent Electoral Commission and a host of international observers to
the DRC elections including, the African Union (AU), Southern African
Development Community (SADC), the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) and the
European Union (EU) agreed on the following:
* transparency of the technical preparations for the elections
* guarantees that each candidate had 200 000 accredited agents for the current
elections
* voter education programme was well conducted.
In this regard, with the signing of the Joint Communiqu� between
representatives of President Kabila and Vice-President Bemba, they committed
themselves, on behalf of their leaders and supporters to:
* guarantee peace and security during and beyond elections
* promote acceptance of the results
* mobilisation of the population to massively participate in the
elections
* respect procedures attendant to the announcement of the election results.
President Kabila and Vice-President Bemba had earlier in the week, in
meetings with SADC individually committed themselves to a peaceful election
campaign and accepting the outcome of the second round of elections, in which
the two leaders are the only contestants.
Meanwhile, the leader of the 108-member SAOM, Deputy Minister Mluleki
George, has again expressed satisfaction with preparations for the elections
and confirmed that all voting material has been delivered and is ready for
use.
The SAOM which arrived in the DRC on Saturday, 21 October 2006, will return
to South Africa on Thursday, 2 November 2006, having observed all phases of the
elections, including the election campaigns, which ended on Friday, 27 October
2006, the voting process beginning Sunday, 28 October 2006 and the counting of
ballots immediately thereafter.
For details please contact:
Vincent Hlongwane
Cell: 082 385 1169
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
29 October 2006
